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Wales Tourism Performance Report January to December 2019

11 June 2020

SFR 57/2020

This report presents the results from the main official tourism surveys for

Wales covering the period January to December 2019. Details of each survey

including links to further information is provided in section 6 at the end of the

report.

The data in this report, apart from the Tourism Barometer survey, relates to

January – December 2019 so pre-dates the current COVID-19 situation. More

recent data is likely to look very different.

Main Points

Top line results are summarised below and each survey is covered in more

detail in the rest of the report. The results indicate a largely mixed year, with

a higher volume of overnight visitor trips taken in Wales by GB residents,

higher numbers of international visitors, but a fall in the number of day

visitors.

Business performance

The Tourism Barometer, undertaken in late April was the third

extraordinary wave of spring 2020 surveys to understand the impact of the

Covid-19 outbreak on the tourism industry.

The previous wave of the survey, undertaken end of March 2020, had

found that 97 percent of businesses were closed with 5 per cent not

having opened in 2020 at all.

The survey reported that government furlough support has kept

redundancies to a minimum. The median estimated loss so far was 20 per

cent of the whole years’ revenue, ranging from no losses to 80 per cent.

Around a quarter (23 per cent) of businesses did not expect to

survive the following three months if lockdown continued, while three

in ten (30 per cent) did not know how long they could survive.

About this release

This is a comprehensive

report that includes the most

recent quarterly data from

the main tourism surveys

covering overnight domestic

GB trips, day visits by GB

residents, international

visitors, accommodation

occupancy rates, findings

from the Wales Tourism

Barometer and overseas

travel by UK residents. The

aim of this report is to

present the results from the

individual surveys on the

overall performance of the

tourism industry in Wales.

The report includes data for

the whole of Wales and,

where available, for Great

Britain/UK for comparative

purposes.

In this release

Domestic GB overnight

visits 4

Domestic GB tourism

day visits 9

International visits 13

Accommodation

occupancy rates 14

Business performance 18

Key quality information 19

Main Points – [Continued]

Overnight visits by GB residents

There were increases in visits to Wales during 2019 compared with 2018: an increase of 6.8 per cent

to 10,698,000 in terms of trips and an increase of 8.1 per cent to £2,003 million in related spend. The

corresponding figures at GB level show smaller increases of 3.6 per cent and 2.9 per cent

respectively.

For both Wales and GB as a whole the number of visits and total expenditure increased but the

number of nights fell or remained stable - indicating that visitors are reducing or not increasing their

length of trip but spend more while they are there.

There were increases in the levels of overnight holiday trips and visits to friends and relatives in

Wales, but the level of business trips decreased during 2019.

Day visits

During 2019, there were 87,300,000 day visits to destinations in Wales, down 8.8 per cent on the

same time in 2018. Related spend (£3,447 million) was down by 14 per cent. The corresponding

figures at GB level were down 2.9 per cent on trips, but up by 5 per cent in terms of spend.

International visitors – Inbound travel

The number of international trips to Wales during 2019, increased by 3.6 per cent year on year to just

over one million (1,023,000). Visitor spending was £515 million, which was an 18.8 per cent increase

on the same time last year. (Please note that ONS have adjusted the figures from the International

Passenger Survey for the period 2009 - 2019).

The corresponding figurer for the whole of UK was a 1.4 per cent increase in the levels of visitors and

a 7.3 per cent increase in corresponding expenditure.

International visitors - Outbound trips by UK residents

There were just over 93 million trips taken abroad by UK residents in 2019 for all purposes - an

increase of 2.8 per cent compared to the previous year.

There were 58,700,000 holidays taken abroad by UK residents in 2019, an increase of 2.3 per cent

compared to 2018 and continuing the strong demand for overseas holidays. This contrasts with a fall

in overseas business trips of 3.4 per cent, but an increase in visits to friends and relatives of 6.2 per

cent year on year.

Accommodation occupancy

For the serviced accommodation types, there was a mixed picture. Hotels saw a slight fall in room

occupancy rates for 2019 compared with the previous year to 66 per cent (from 67 per cent in 2018),

but Guest Houses and B&Bs saw an increase to 37 per cent (from 35 per cent last year). Hostels

were up slightly year on year to 54 per cent in 2019 compared to the 53 per cent of the previous year.

Self-catering accommodation occupancy was 57 per cent slightly up compared to 55 per cent last

year.

The seasonal May to October average for caravan holiday homes was 90 per cent up slightly

compared to the 88 per cent of the previous year, and the May to October occupancy for Touring

caravan and camping parks was slightly down from last year with 42 per cent in 2019 compared to 46

per cent in 2018.

General note

The analysis in this report relates to January – December 2019 so pre-dates the current COVID-19

situation.

Interviewing for the International Passenger survey, which produces estimates for inbound and

outbound travel, was suspended by the ONS in March 2020. Given domestic travel restrictions, data

collection for the Great Britain Tourism Survey and Day Visit Survey has also been suspended. The

Accommodation Occupancy survey has also been paused whilst current travel and opening

restrictions on accommodation businesses are in force. The Tourism Business Barometer surveys

have been adapted this year to assess impacts of the coronavirus.

We are not yet able to give an indication as to when the next Tourism Performance report will be

published but it will be pre-announced on the upcoming calendar as soon as the position is clear.

4

1. Overnight visits by GB residents

All purposes of trips

Table 1.0: Volume (millions) and Expenditure (£ millions) by Overnight Domestic GB

Visitors for All Purposes of Trips

Source: Source: Great Britain Tourism Survey

Trips taken in Wales

Jan to Dec 2019

(millions)

% change from year

before

12 month total

ending Dec 2018

(millions)

Trips 10.698 +6.8 10.021

Nights 35.077 -1.6 35.638

Spend (£) £2,003 +8.1 £1,853

Trips taken in Great Britain

Jan to Dec 2019

(millions)

% change from year

before

12 month total

ending Dec 2018

(millions)

Trips 122.780 +3.6 118.556

Nights 371.806 +0.0 371.747

Spend (£) £24,651 +2.9 £23,961

In 2019, there were 10,698,000 overnight trips to Wales by GB residents, which is a 6.8 percent

increase on 2018. During 2019, there was a total expenditure of £2,003 million which is an 8.1 per

cent increase on the previous year. In comparison, the total volume of overnight trips taken across

GB as a whole also increased in 2019 compared to the previous year with 3.6 per cent. Related

expenditure for GB increased by 2.9 per cent compared to 2018.

Figure 1.0 shows that the number of trips taken in Wales were higher during the shoulder months

of April – May and September - October 2019 compared to the previous year. The visitor numbers

during the peak months were equal to or slightly less than 2018.

5

The longer term trend in figure 1.1 shows that annual trips and spend to Wales peaked in 2015

with around 10.5 million annual trips and £1,985 million in expenditure. There was a fall in trips

taken in Wales during 2016 and 2017. However during the last year both spend and visitor levels

picked up and have now caught up with the levels last seen in 2016. The strong performance

during 2019 resulted in increases in the volume of trips taken in Wales of almost 7 percent and the

level of expenditure of 8 per cent compared to the previous year.

Wales share of trips and spend

Figure 1.2 shows that Wales’ share of overnight trips (any purpose) taken by GB residents peaked

in 2014-2015 with an 8.8 per cent share of trips and 8 per cent share of spend. The share of trips

and spend fell during 2016 and 2017 but increased during 2019 with an average share of 8.7 per

cent of trips and 8.1 per cent of spend in the 12 months ending December 2019.

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Overnight holidays

Table 1.1: Volume (millions) and Expenditure (£ millions) of Overnight Domestic GB Visitors Trips for Holiday Purposes Source: Great Britain Tourism Survey

Holiday Trips taken in Wales

Jan to Dec 2019

(millions)

% change from year

before

12 month total ending

Dec 2018 (millions)

Trips 6.710 +4.6 6.412

Nights 23.061 -5.8 24.487

Spend (£) £1,439 +5.6 £1,362

Holiday Trips taken in Great Britain

Jan to Dec 2019

(millions) % change from year

before 12 month total ending

Dec 2018 (millions)

Trips 60.452 +4.4 57.894

Nights 198.144 -1.1 200.249

Spend (£) £14,483 +1.3 £14,292

During 2019, there were 6,710,000 overnight holiday trips to Wales by GB residents, which is an

increase of 4.6 per cent on 2018, which was 6.4 million. During 2019, there was a total expenditure

of £1,439 million.

Figure 1.3 shows that the 12 month rolling total of holiday trips taken in Wales previously peaked in

2014 with around 6.4 million annual trips. There was a fall in the volume of holiday trips taken in

Wales during 2016 and 2017, but during the last months of 2018 the trip levels increased to above

the 2014 level, a trend which continued into 2019, where the visitor numbers were 6.7 million. The

chart shows that the volume of expenditure roughly followed the volume of visits over time.

In comparison, the volume of overnight trips taken across GB as a whole have shown a 4.4

percent increase during 2019 with trip volumes of 60.5 million and an increase in spend of 1.3 per

cent. The Wales share of GB holiday trips however increased to 11.1 per cent over the last 12

months from 9.7 per cent in 2017.

7

Visits to friends and relatives

Table 1.2: Volume (millions) and Expenditure (£ million) of Overnight Domestic GB Visitors; Visits to Friends & Relatives (VFR)

Source: Great Britain Tourism Survey

VFR Trips taken in Wales

12 month total Jan to December % change from ending Dec 2018

2019 (millions) year before (millions)

Trips 3.058 +23.5 2.477

Nights 9.650 +24.2 7.767

Spend (£) £327 +12.8 £290

VFR Trips taken in Great Britain

Jan to September

2019 (millions)

12 month total % change from ending Dec 2018

year before (millions)

Trips 42.894 +4.5 41.050

Nights 127.781 +4.3 122.552

Spend (£) £5,051 +7.3 £4,706

During 2019, there were 3,058,000 overnight trips to visit friends and relatives in Wales by GB

residents, which is a large increase of over 23 per cent on 2018, which saw 2,477,000 trips. During

this period, there was a total expenditure of £327 million, which also was a large increase

compared to 2018.

Figure 1.4 shows that over the longer term, trips to visit friends and relatives in Wales have

fluctuated but there was a peak in 2015 with around 3 million annual trips followed by a fall in the

volume of VFR trips taken in Wales during 2016 and 2017. The visitor levels recovered in 2018

and in 2019 the overall VFR trip levels were at 3 million, back up to the 2015 level.

In comparison, there has also been an increase in overnight visits to friends and relatives across

GB as a whole during 2019.

8

Business visits

Table 1.3: Volume (millions) and Expenditure (£ millions) of Overnight Domestic GB

Visitors; Business Visits

Source: Great Britain Tourism Survey

Business Visits taken in Wales

Jan to December 2019 % change from 12 month total (millions) year before ending Dec 2018 (millions)

Trips 0.720 -12.8 0.826

Nights 1.777 -9.2 1.958

Spend (£) £173 +9.5 £158

Business Visits taken in Great Britain

Jan to

December 2019

(millions)

12 month total % change from ending Dec 2018

year before (millions)

Trips 16.321 +0.3 16.272

Nights 36.195 -7.1 38.954

Spend (£) £4,562 +4.4 £4,371

During 2019 there were 720,000 overnight business trips to Wales by GB residents, which is a

decrease of 12.8 per cent on 2018 which was 0.8 million trips. During 2019, there was a total

expenditure of £173 million, which was a 9.5 per cent increase compared to 2018.

Figure 1.5 shows that overnight business trips taken in Wales by GB residents have fluctuated

widely over time but there was a peak in 2012 with over 1.1 million annual trips. Trip volumes also

reached over 1 million in early 2016 but then trip volumes fell in 2017. 2018 showed a general

increase in the overall level of business visits, but the average 2019 levels have fallen.

In comparison, there has been a slight increase in overnight business trips taken across Great

Britain as a whole during 2019, but that comes after a longer term fall in the volume of business

trips. There was a fall in the volume of trips in GB from over 19 million annual trips in 2012 to the

current volume of 16.3 million trips taken in 2019.

9

2. Domestic GB tourism day visits

Table 2.0: Volume of Trips and Expenditure on Tourism Day Visits by GB residents Source: Great Britain Day Visits Survey

Tourism Day visits taken in Wales

January to December

2019 (millions)

% change from year

before

12 month total ending

Dec 2018 (millions)

Trips 87.3 -8.8 95.7

Spend (£) £3,447 -14.0 £4,009

Tourism Day visits taken in Great Britain

January to December

2019 (millions)

% change from year

before

12 month total ending

Dec 2018 (millions)

Trips 1,653 -2.9 1,703

Spend (£) £66,978 +5.0 £63,782

There has been a slight decrease in the volume of tourism day visits taken in Wales during 2019,

compared to the same period in 2018, with 87,300,000 trips taken which is a decrease of 8.8 per

cent. The overall spend fell by 14 per cent in 2019 with an expenditure of £3,447 million. There

was a similar but smaller decrease in the overall day visit levels for Great Britain as a whole.

Figure 2.0 shows the monthly volume of tourism day visits to Wales since 2017. The day visitor

numbers vary from month to month and are generally more weather dependent than overnight

visitor numbers.

Figure 2.1 shows that tourism day visits taken in Wales by GB residents fell from a level of almost

118 million annual trips in 2012 to 83 million trips in 2016. Trip volumes then increased to over 100

million annual trips in early 2018, but have now fallen to their current level of 87 million trips.

10

Expenditure on tourism day visits taken in Wales has followed a similar pattern to the volume of

visits.

Tourism day visits across Great Britain as a whole have also fallen from a peak level in 2013 of

1,951 million annual trips to 1,653 million annual trips in 2019.

Activities Core to Tourism (ACT) Day Visits are a subset of Tourism Day Visits where the main

activity is going out for entertainment, watching live sports, trips to visitor attractions, going to

special public events, undertaking outdoor leisure activities or going on general days out. In 2019,

there were 26.3 million day visits taken in Wales that involved activities core to tourism. This was a

decrease of 16 per cent compared to the total of 31 million ACT trips in 2018. During 2019, day

visits including activities core to tourism comprised an average of 30 per cent of all tourism day

visits taken in Wales.

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3.a International visits - inbound

The results reported in this section are from the International Passenger Survey (IPS).

Background

The International Passenger Survey (IPS) is used to produce official statistics relating to

international visitors to the UK and Wales. Around 250,000 interviews per year are conducted at

ports and airports with those entering or leaving the country, and the ONS uses data from around

45,000 of these to estimate figures for international visitors. (Further information)

The ONS have responded to concerns that visitors from some countries may be under-represented

in the estimates, notably China as well as other countries in south-east Asia, and have developed

a new adjustment method, updating the weightings. The new method was developed using Home

Office landing card data for different countries to understand where there was under or over

representation in the previous estimates.

On 22 May 2020 ONS released final 2019 estimates of trips and spend to Wales based on the new

method as well as revised estimates of trips and spend for the period 2009 – 2018 (estimates of

trips and spend prior to 2009 remain unchanged).

A summary of the new method developed by the ONS is available here

Table 3.0: Volume of Trips and Expenditure of Inbound International Visitors

Source: International Passenger Survey

January –

December 2019

Trips (000s)

% change from

year before

Spend (£ millions) % change from

year before

Wales 1,023 +3.6 £515 +18.8

Scotland 3,460 -7.2 £2,538 +6.7

London 21,713 +3.0 £15,725 +5.8

Rest of England 16,937 +3.7 £9,055 +9.6

Total UK 40,857 +1.4 £28,448 +7.3

During 2019, there was an increase of 3.6 per cent in the volume of international trips to Wales

year on year with just over one million trips taken. The visitor expenditure, increased by 18.8

percent year on year to £515 million.

There were almost 41 million international trips to the UK during 2019, which was an increase

of 1.4 per cent compared to 2018. Inbound visitor spending was almost £28.5 billion, an

increase of 7.3 per cent compared to 2018.

12

Figure 3.0 shows that the increase in international trips taken in Wales during 2019 is mainly

due to an increase in the volumes of trips to visit friends and relatives and to a lesser extent

business trips. (NB: the chart below does not contain the numbers for international students in

Wales and therefore the total does not add up to the total visitor number shown in the table

above)

Figure 3.1 shows the longer term trend in international visits to Wales. The volume of trips taken in

Wales by international visitors reached above 1 million visits in 2016 and 2017, the second highest

recorded level of visitors. However, the volume of trips fell to under a million again in 2018 before

rising by 3.6 per cent to 1,023,000 in 2019.

The corresponding UK figures show a longer term growth in international visits to the UK which

reached a record of 41 million trips in 2017 and a record expenditure of £28.4 billion. However, in

2018 the level of international visits and the level of expenditure fell, before picking up again in

2019.

13

3.b International visits - overseas travel by UK residents

As described above, ONS have adjusted the international passenger data from 2009 to 2019.

Figure 6.0 shows the updated data from 2009 onwards.

During 2019, there was a total 93,086,000 trips taken overseas by UK residents for all

purposes. This is 2.8 per cent up from 2018. There were 58,668,000 holidays taken abroad by

UK residents in 2019, an increase of 2.3 per cent compared to the same period in 2018

showing the continuing demand for overseas holidays. This contrasts with a fall in overseas

business trips of 3.4 per cent, but an increase in visits to friends and relatives of 6.2 per cent

year on year.

14

4. Accommodation occupancy rates1

Hotels

The average room occupancy for hotels in Wales in 2019 was 66 per cent, slightly down from

the 67 per cent of 2017 and 2018. The bed occupancy rate in this period was 49 per cent,

slightly down from the 50 per cent of the previous year.2

Figure 4.0 shows that the room occupancy rates for the months of April and the summer

months - July to October and December, were above last year’s occupancy levels.

Guest houses and Bed & Breakfast

The average room occupancy for Guest Houses and Bed and Breakfast establishments in

Wales during 2019 was 37 per cent, which is higher than the average rate of 35 per cent for

2018. Figure 4.1 shows that the monthly occupancy levels were higher than the previous year

for the months of January, April, May, July, September and November 2019.

1 The 2019 monthly figures in this section may vary slightly from those in the previous 2019 reports. This is caused by rerun of the monthly data including any late returns. 2 NB: The 2019 occupancy data may be updated between editions of this quarterly report. As such, the data should be treated as provisional until the separate annual report is finalised.

15

Self-catering cottages and apartments

The average unit occupancy for self-catering establishments in Wales in 2019 was 57 per

cent, slightly higher than the average rate of 55 per cent for 2018. Figure 4.2 shows that the

occupancy rates were higher for the first two months of the year, and in April and December.

Hostels & bunkhouses

The average monthly bedspace occupancy for hostels and bunkhouses in Wales in 2019 was

54 per cent, slightly up from the 53 per cent of 2018. Figure 4.3 shows that for all months,

apart from March, the occupancy rates were higher or similar compared to the previous year.

40

50

40

63

57 6

6

76

90

70

58

38 4

3

38

38 40

53

65 66

76

90

68

55

40

25

44 5

2

40

58 6

5

64

76

88

68

54

38 40

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Unit O

ccupancy %

2017 2018 2019

Figure 4.2: Average monthly unit occupancy for Self-Catering Accommodation in WalesSource: Visit Wales Occupancy survey

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Caravan holiday homes

Figure 4.4 shows that the months of April, May, July and October performed slightly better than

2018. The seasonal May to October average unit occupancy was 90 per cent in 2019, 88 per cent

in 2018, and 86 per cent in 2017.3

3 As highlighted in previous quarterly reports, the reported unit occupancy levels for Caravan Holiday Homes

in 2017 did not include a couple of larger accommodation providers and the difference in occupancy rates to 2016 and 2018 would mainly have been due to sample differences. However, this issue has been resolved and the data in Figure 4.4 above includes the larger agencies for all of the three years.

17

Touring caravan and camping parks

The monthly pitch occupancy levels for touring caravan and camping parks in 2019 were up in the

shoulder months of April, September and October but down from the previous year during the

summer months May to August, averaging 40 per cent in 2019 (April – October) compared to the

42 per cent for the same period in 2018.

For comparison, the full season (May to October) average pitch occupancy for touring caravan and

camping parks was 42 per cent in 2019 compared to 46 per cent in 2018 and 40 per cent in 2017.

18

5. Business performance

This section provides the results from the Wales Tourism Business Barometer4 which is based on

a telephone survey of around 800 tourism businesses, reflective of different parts of Wales and

different sectors in the visitor economy. The survey is designed to give quick feedback on how the

tourism industry in Wales is performing at key times during the year. The April 2020 survey was the

third extraordinary wave of spring 2020 surveys to research the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak

on the tourism industry.

The Business Barometer was undertaken the last week of April and the report can be found here:

2020 Business Tourism Barometer.

The previous wave of the survey, undertaken end of March 2020, had found that 97 percent of

businesses were closed with 5 per cent not having opened in 2020 at all.

Headline findings:

Furlough support had kept redundancies to a minimum to that point. The majority (71 per cent) of

businesses which employ any staff said they had to put at least some of them on paid leave /

furlough.

On average, 8 staff per tourism business were furloughed / put on paid leave. When based to just

businesses taking that action, the average was 11 per business. If a business furloughed any staff,

it was likely to be all or nearly all of those they employ.

By comparison, the average number of redundancies made per business which employ staff was

only 0.1. The support for furloughed staff had helped to keep this number low.

About one in six (16 per cent) businesses would normally employ seasonal staff at this time of

year. Out of these, only a minority (14 per cent) were still able to do so – or 2 per cent of the whole

survey sample.

The median reported loss as a result of the crisis in just the period since the beginning of the

outbreak was approximately 20 per cent of normal revenue for the whole year. This finding was

consistent across sector, region and business size. The range was however considerable – from

not having lost anything, to over 80 per cent of normal annual revenue.

Around a quarter (23 per cent) of businesses did not expect to survive the following three months if

lockdown continued, while three in ten (30 per cent) did not know how long they could survive.

4 This source is not designated as an official statistic but is presented here for completeness for the benefit of

users of this release

19

6. Key Quality Information

The report includes data from the following surveys:

Great Britain tourism survey

This is a continuous survey of the GB population that is the source of official statistics measuring

the volume and value of overnight trips taken by British residents throughout Britain.

The GBTS survey is conducted continuously throughout the year, using face-to-face CAPI

interviewing, though this is changing to online from 2020 onwards, with a representative sample of

c. 2,000 adults aged 16 and over each week, within GB. Respondents are asked whether they

have taken any such trips in the previous four calendar weeks that involved at least one night away

from home. The results are reported in terms of total GB population values. Therefore the data are

weighted to correct for differences between the sample distribution and that of the population and

also to gross the sample values up to the population. On average 2,000 interviews are conducted

each week, some 100,000 interviews per year. For more information see Great Britain Tourism

Survey 2018

Great Britain day visits survey

This is a continuous survey of the GB population that is the source of official statistics measuring

the volume and value of tourism day trips taken by British residents throughout Britain.

GBDVS is undertaken using an online methodology with a total of ca 35,000 interviews conducted

with adults aged 16 and over who were resident in England, Scotland and Wales during 52 weekly

survey waves. Survey respondents are selected from an online panel with demographic quotas

based on age, gender, working status, socio-economic status and area of residence applied in

every survey wave to increase the representativeness of the achieved sample. The survey data is

then weighted to further improve the representativeness of the outputs. For more information see

Great Britain Day Visits Survey 2018

International passenger survey

A survey undertaken by the Office for National Statistics that collects information about overseas

passengers entering and leaving the UK and is the main source of statistics on the volume and

value of international visits to Wales. The outbound international passenger data is not available on

a Wales level.

As mentioned above in section 3, ONS have recently re-weighted the IPS data from 2009 onwards

and this reweighted data is used in this report.

Link to IPS website: IPS Tourism Survey

Wales Tourism Accommodation Occupancy Survey

This is a survey of a sample of tourism businesses in Wales that is the source of official statistics

on occupancy rates and other performance measures for different types of accommodation used

by visitors to Wales. An occupancy survey has been continuously undertaken amongst graded

hotel accommodation providers since 1972 to monitor levels of demand for hotel rooms and beds

20

in Wales. To comply with the requirements of the EU Directive on Tourism Statistics, the survey

was extended in 1997 to cover all serviced accommodation, including guest houses, bed and

breakfast establishments and non-graded serviced accommodation. The occupancy data for the

individual months are rerun several times per year to take account of late responses, so the

monthly in-year figures may change in between edition of this report. The monthly data should

therefore be treated as provisional until the separate annual report is published. For more

information see

Wales tourism accommodation occupancy surveys.

Wales’s tourism industry barometer

This is a survey of a sample of tourism businesses in Wales that has been set up to provide

‘snapshots’ of industry performance after important points in the tourism calendar.

The 2020 Covid impact survey wave 3 was conducted with 805 telephone interviews. This makes

results of questions asked to all accurate to ±3.5 per cent. The sample is reflective of the tourism

industry in Wales. For more information see Wales Tourism Barometer Covid19 impact-survey-

wave-3-2020

Survey results

The surveys reported in this output are all sample surveys and the results subject to normal

sampling errors. Sample errors will be larger for the 3 monthly estimates as they are based on

smaller samples and for this reason, results relating to just the 3 month period should be treated

with caution.

Relevance

What are the potential uses of these statistics?

These statistics will be used in a variety of ways. Some examples of these are:

to make publicly available data on tourism in Wales

advice to Ministers

to inform debate in the National Assembly for Wales and beyond.

Who are the key potential users of this data?

These statistics will be useful both within and outside the Welsh Government. Some of the key

potential users are:

tourism businesses

Ministers and the Members Research Service in the National Assembly for Wales

Visit Wales and other areas of the Welsh Government

local authorities

professional organisations

the research community

21

students, academics and universities

individual citizens and private companies.

Timeliness and punctuality

All outputs adhere to the Code of Practice by pre-announcing the date of publication through the

upcoming calendar. Furthermore, should the need arise to postpone an output this would follow the

Welsh Government’s Revisions, Errors and Postponements arrangements.

We publish data as soon as possible after the relevant time period.

Accessibility and clarity

This statistical release is pre-announced and then published on the Statistics and research section

of the Welsh Government website.

Comparability and coherence

This report presents estimated data for 2019 and previous calendar years. The annual estimates

are comparable between years, subject to specific sample margins for each individual survey.

Further details of each survey methodology and sample limitations are published on the tourism

statistics section of the Welsh Government website.

Since 2016 there have been changes to the data processing system of the Great Britain Tourism

Survey. A technical document has been published separately on the Welsh Government website

which explains what these changes are, why they were made, how this affects the data collected

as well as what implications this has when comparing data from 2016 onwards with previously

published figures.

Well-being of Future Generations Act (WFG)

The Well-being of Future Generations Act 2015 is about improving the social, economic,

environmental and cultural well-being of Wales. The Act puts in place seven well-being goals for

Wales. These are for a more equal, prosperous, resilient, healthier and globally responsible Wales,

with cohesive communities and a vibrant culture and thriving Welsh language. Under section

(10)(1) of the Act, the Welsh Ministers must (a) publish indicators (“national indicators”) that must

be applied for the purpose of measuring progress towards the achievement of the Well-being

goals, and (b) lay a copy of the national indicators before the National Assembly. The 46 national

indicators were laid in March 2016.

Information on the indicators, along with narratives for each of the well-being goals and associated

technical information is available in the Well-being of Wales report.

Further information on the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.

The statistics included in this release could also provide supporting narrative to the national

indicators and be used by public services boards in relation to their local well-being assessments

and local well-being plans.

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Further details

The document is available at: https://gov.wales/wales-tourism-performance

The analysis in this report relates to January – December 2019 so pre-dates the current COVID-19

situation.

Interviewing for the International Passenger survey, which produces estimates for inbound and

outbound travel, was suspended by the ONS in March 2020. Given domestic travel restrictions,

data collection for the Great Britain Tourism Survey and Day Visit Survey has also been

suspended. The Accommodation Occupancy survey has also been paused whilst current travel

and opening restrictions on accommodation businesses are in force. The Tourism Business

Barometer surveys have been adapted this year to assess impacts of the coronavirus.

We are not yet able to give an indication as to when the next Tourism Performance report will be

published but it will be pre-announced on the upcoming calendar as soon as the position is clear.

We want your feedback

We welcome any feedback on any aspect of these statistics, which can be provided by email to

tourismresearch@gov.wales

Open Government Licence

All content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0, except where otherwise stated.